As WP's senior editor, I edit review and preview articles, attempt to keep up with the frantic pace of Rainier's news posts, and keep our reviewers on deadline, which is akin to herding cats. When I have a moment to myself and don't have my nose in a book, I like to play action/RPG, adventure and platforming games.

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'Titans of Steel: Warring Suns' - v1.2 Update Patch Available NOW

The Titans of Steel: Warring Suns universe is a future where the main fighting unit is the Titan Attack Tech, better know as the Titan-AT. Titan-ATs are generally humanoid in appearance, range from ten to fourteen meters in height and weigh as much as 200 tons. A Titan-AT can have an array of weapons including lasers, auto cannons, missile launchers and other specialty weapons and defensive systems.

The product of years of development by Vicious Byte, Titans of Steel: Warring Suns is the definitive strategy game for the mech genre.

The battle area has four map sizes ranging from small to huge. Interactive terrain features such as flammable dense forests or smashed ruins make the battle more dynamic. An auto-move feature allows you to concentrate on your weapon systems. Multiplayer support allows up to four players with thirty-two Titan-ATs to compete in Hot Seat, LAN or Internet games.

Titans of Steel: Warring Suns v1.2.0

NOTE:
The patch will break saved battles compatibility. Players will have to finish battles first before installing the patch ! In network games you have to use same versions for host and clients to connect !
(IP port number for v1.2.0 is 42120)

This patch includes three new semi official campaigns made by Glenn Shell and Michael Jureidini !

B. Additions/Changes
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1. You can save a map as mission template in battle module with key 'S'.
2. Automove will be cancelled after charge.
3. Reworked scanner parameters. Reduced short range of all scanners.
4. Added attack modifier display with key 'B'. Only available in tutorial and for weapons which are ready or reloading.
5. Added additional settings for F4. Message detail 'HIGH' will provide same as 'MAX' except for standard 'target missed ...' messages.
6. Lots of AI combat/move tweaks from pathfinding to targeting.
7. AI offers draw to rookie/green at 70%/60% total strength per side.
8. AI will offer draw in hotseat games too. Was limited to solitary before.
9. Added popup info if titan is received as a mission reward, also if no titan can be added because the squad is already at maximum.
10. Reworked instability checks due to damage. Energy weapons will cause less checks. Bigger titans will be more stable.
11. Airdrop titans will start with shields on if available.
12. Move mode will modify chance for instability check due to damage.
13. Increased black ray guns chance to cause instability by 5%.
14. E.M.P. hit on D.C.S. will break repair in progress.
15. Only negative chassis mods will be doubled for jump/dodge.
16. Positive chassis mods will not be applied at all during jumps/dodges.
17. Chassis mods will be displayed with F2 on jocks skill page.
18. Burntime for woods is now calculated by hitpoints, not just fixed.
19. Engine explosion will cause damage on surrounding hexes, not just titans.
20. Reduced event based heat set on unwooded hexes from 3.6C to 2.7C.
21. Crouch and prone height will be rounded up.
22. Immersed titans will take half damage/radiation from engine explosions if not in the same hex.
23. Lost link message displayed 3secs instead of 2sec.
24. Heat balance will no longer display additions like weapons or explosions which only last a second.
25. Mouse hover over small locked titan image will display its move.
26. Increased modifier for leg mounted weapons to speed/4. Dodges will get speed/3 to hit penalty.
27. Added message when life support is destroyed with location but titan is not disabled.
28. Offensive penalty -3% for each depth meter while in fluid hexes.
29. Buildings of any type will provide -10% defensive to hit modifier.
30. Damaged/destroyed buildings will provide half/no cover.
31. GME will get shield power consumption*3 modifier instead of fixed +10% bonus.
32. GMH with hex lock will get +20% for burning hexes or heat * 2 if hex emmits heat.
33. Leg/lower torso weapons won't get negative attack mod during swivels.
34. Lock will be lost on anihilated titans.
35. Simplified weapons color coding in attack window. Now its red for broken weapons, magenta for weapons reloading and gray for weapons not ready for other reasons.
36. Changed shield sprite color order for shield 1 to 6 (green/blue/magenta/yellow/orange/red).
37. Tweaked 3D map wood size calculation to better distinguish light and dense woods.
38. New teams average rank calculation. Jocks rank AND titans weight class are evaluated.
39. Kicks no longer allowed standing in fluids.
40. Link scanner display will include link reliability modified by flares.
41. Engine explosion will cause engine max. power * 8 damage on same hex.
Damage is 50%/25% in 1/2 hexes distance. Heat is equal to damage.
42. Improved selection of player titan to center view on during AI actions.
43. Switched colors green/lightgreen on jock skill data display.
44. Energy/hth weapons will display ?? in small weapon popups when there isn't at least 1 PU left for them to recycle. They will show PUs in big status popup in red too.
45. Missile misses on titans only hit cover if a check against the jocks skill to hit the hex is passed.
46. Center map on titan for player shutdowns.
47. Added more note sounds for various popups.
48. Smoke screens caused by cannons will add random 0-5secs for duration.
49. EMP -5% to hit and +5C heat.
50. Jump out of water/snow will cause steam.
51. Toggling off Scanner/ECM/Shield will only take 50% time.
52. Max shield level is displayed on first status page.
53. Immersed titan with one leg will count as disabled for victory/defeat.
54. Added new entry for tcc.cfg. It has to go into a new section [TOS_WS_HQ]
start_rank = 2
This will create new squads as green rank with 700.000 $ money.
You can also set player name "RANK" and callsign either "GREEN" or "ROOKIE" on jock creation to set/unset the rank for the next jocks.
55. Squad on mission can sell unallocated titans in HQ module.
56. Right click will go back from transfer jock screen in HQ module.
57. IP port number changed to 42120.

Titans of Steel: Warring Suns v1.1.0

NOTE:
The patch will break saved battles compatibility. Players will have to finish battles first before installing the patch ! In network games you have to use same versions for host and clients to connect !
(IP port number for v1.1.0 is 42110)

1. Added small 5 map campaign for real absolute beginners.
2. Added 'pick titan' option in battle module.
3. Added second 'set balance' option screen.
4. Added option to break automove but complete current move with F3.
5. Added visual display for call move/attack buttons as well as F3. Pending actions will cause the buttons to be blue, causing a skillcheck with call move will show yellow button.
6. Shortcut 'x' will also work with open attack window.
7. Game will use IP in clipboard when launched with tos_ws.exe /N. This will support BATTLE HQ.
8. Number of titans requested for random teams set from 1 to random.
9. Improved missile splash hit calculation.
10. Only anihilated titans will be removed from victorious team.
11. Ranks for random teams in netgames won't deviate from setup.
12. Only Half combat XPs for hitting shutdown titans.
13. Prolonged flare duration on successfull defensive skill check calculated by skill/10 + max. flare duration/3.
14. Maintenance for unallocated titans reduced by 50%.
15. Improved 'set map option' and 'set team size' handling.
16. Leg mounted weapons have speed/5 penalty while firing on the move.
17. Leg mounted weapons can't fire while titan is in any liquid.
18. Only CBT weapons can fire on the hex the attacker is leaving.
19. Jocks allocated to a titan and left behind during a battle will gain +5 development points in each category.
20. Recycle time for short range missiles and vibra claw reduced by 1 sec.
21. Recycle time for flamer increased by 1 sec.
22. Breaking jump up/down will cause skill check.
23. Wind will modify jump skill checks if wind power is greater than 3.
24. Loosing the link partner will break 'wait on new foe' in attack mode.
25. Added new sound setting with F4 and added test sound for effects.
26. Random jocks with SRMs will improve on indirect fire skill.
27. Added team action mode display with '9' key.
28. Added rare (1%) random jock rank deviation for +-2 ranks.
29. 'F2' will also display info for allied human teams in hotseat games.
30. Clicking on red crosshair during called hits will take you back to umodified weapon selection. Firing all possible weapons during called hits will take you back to unmodified weapon selection.
31. Destroyed gyro will disable most move options.
32. IP port number is changed from 42118 to 42110.
33. Added range and damage display in hq module.
34. Added jock printout option in hq module.
35. Added power unit (PU) display for weapons in factory module.
36. New buttons for squad repair in factory.
37. New weight text format in squad screen.
38. New event in tutorial after destroying the building which will describe the deactivation of the attack mode.